A short silence followed. I did not say another word. Miss Millington stirred as if to escape.
"Stay! One moment, if you please," Mrs. Romilly said coldly, and she reined up her head in her graceful way. I do not think I should admire the gesture in anybody else; it is so seldom graceful: but it suits Mrs. Romilly.
"Stay!" she repeated. "This settles the matter, Miss Millington. One who can speak in such a manner to my friend is no fit companion for my children. You will go to your own home on Monday, instead of accompanying us to Glynde. Of course you will receive three months' salary in full, from to-day: and I will also undertake your travelling expenses to London. I hope you will take warning, and learn a different spirit for the future. And remember,—I am able to recommend you as companion to a lady, but not as a governess."
One scowl of positive hate was cast sidelong at me, and Miss Millington fled. I do not think Mrs. Romilly saw that parting glance. She sat down by my side, and I found her to be trembling.
"Anything agitating tries me," she said. "But it must be so. My husband will agree with me, fully." And when I would have pleaded for some slight relaxation of the sentence, she refused to listen. "No, no, not another word, Constance! I cannot sacrifice my darlings' good to her feelings. She has done harm enough already. Have you not seen?"
"I have feared," I said.
"My Maggie used to be so scrupulously true," she said in a low voice of positive anguish.
I could not deny the change, but I spoke comfortingly, foretelling that under her influence and Nellie's, there would soon be a difference. "Maggie loves you devotedly," I added.
"Yes: but is that all?" she asked, her lips quivering. "I thought my Maggie was the one of them all who had most truly given herself to the service of Christ. And now—Yes, I see it in Thyrza and in Elfie,—the fight going on. But Maggie—my Maggie—could I have been mistaken in her before?"
She broke down, and cried bitterly. I did my best to comfort her. No doubt she is seeing daily more and more those faults and weaknesses which have most markedly developed in Maggie during the last few months. I would not suggest that her whole past estimate of Maggie's character has been a mistaken estimate. If her eyes must be opened, I would rather leave them to open naturally.